Some Useful Innovations with Trasys and Sinda-85
Several innovative methods have been used to allow more efficient and accurate thermal analysis using SINDA-85 and TRASYS, including model integration and reduction, planetary surface calculations, and model animation. Integration with other modeling and analysis codes allows an analyst to import a geometry from a solid modeling or computer-aided design (CAD) software package, rather than building the geometry "by hand." This is more efficient as well as potentially more accurate. However, the use of solid modeling software often generates large analytical models. The problem of reducing large models has been elegantly solved using the response of the transient derivative to a forcing step function. The thermal analysis of a lunar rover implemented two unusual features of the TRASYS/SINDA system. A little-known TRASYS routine SURFP calculates the solar heating of a rover on the lunar surface for several different rover positions and orientations. This is used not only to determine the rover temperatures, but also to automatically determine the power generated by the solar arrays. The animation of transient thermal results is an effective tool, especially in a vivid case such as the 14-day progress of the sun over the lunar rover. An animated color map on the solid model displays the progression of temperatures.